You Had Me at Hello…

OK, so the guys at work have found my blog… Welcome you bunch of misfits! This blog is one of those things if been wanting to do but never took the time to do it…

It’s been kind of slow going since I started a few months ago, but if I’m going to have an audience, I should probably start posting on a more regular basis.

I have a lot of interest ranging from food to photography to computers. This blog was originally going to be a journal of my activities, then I thought about focusing on food reviews… Screw it… It’s just going to be (as the sub-title suggests) random thoughts and observations about things as I see them.

Welcome to my little piece of cyber-space. I hope you enjoy your visit!

The Creekside Lodge – Crawfordsville, Indiana

Hidden among the trees on Lafayette Avenue the The Creekside Lodge (Restaurant & Lounge) is a great find in a town with only a few options for a decent lunch (more reviews on the good Crawfordsville spots in future blog posts). I’ve dined here before but I was not writing a Blog yet so I’m going to treat this as a “first visit” report.

Open for just under 2 years, the Creekside Lodge is housed in what was once the Clements Canoe Outdoor Center along Sugar Creek in Crawfordsville, Indiana. I arrived at 11:30 am to find only a few cars in the parking lot. This place can get busy around noon in the summer months (my last visit to this place).

I was seated immediately in a spacious booth overlooking the covered patio and ordered up an Iced tea ($1.75). After a quick glance at the Lunch Menu, I decided on a traditional BLT with chips ($4.95) A BLT was something I was planning on fixing myself this past weekend but never got around to it.

The Lunch Menu offers quite a variety. Some highlights:

  • Spinach Artichoke Dip appetizer ($6.95)
  • Various Pizzas ($6.75 to $10.50)
  • Pork Tenderloin (Traditional Indiana food!) ($5.95)
  • Olive Burger (Burger with Green Olive Sauce) ($7.49)
  • Several Salad choices ($2.00 to $7.50)

Once my BLT arrived I was pleased with the amount of B and T! The bread was toasted nicely and the lettuce was fresh (not always easy to find in November). The accompanying chips were the “Ridged” variety and nicely salted. I’m usually a big eater at lunch but I’ll have to say this amount of food was just about right today.

Total bill for this visit was $8.60 ($7.10 + $1.50 Tip).

The Creekside Lodge offers carry-out and the lounge is open until Midnight Monday-Saturday. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled when you go there for the first time. It’s an easy place to miss!

As I travel throughout Indiana on business I plan on writing about the lunch stops along my way. If you have a favorite lunch place, be sure to email me and I’ll see if I can add it to my itinerary.

Creekside Lodge on Urbanspoon

GTD Review and a seasonal photograph

I ran across a really good review of Gettng Things Done by David Allen at The Simple Dollar website. Trent does a great job describing the various chapters in the book and gives it a buy recomendation at the end of the review.

Took this picture in July but it’s pretty appropriate now since the leaves are turning and starting to fall in the backyard.

Leaf Covered Path

The Weekly Review

It’s Sunday… It’s 5:00 am… It’s a cool fall morning and I drag myself out of bed for my weekly ritual. It’s called the “Weekly Review” and it’s an essential part of the organizational philosophy called Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen. It will consume the next 2-3 hours of my morning as I review the activities/notes of the past week and get ready for the week to come.

Those of you who know me know that I’m somewhat obsessed with orginization and the GTD method. It comes from years of trial and error with other systems. I’ve found the GTD system just clicks with how I function.

Clearing my head of unwanted distractions allows my creative energies to flow and ultimately it helps me relax. The outcome of this weekly appointment I have with myself is a clearer understanding of everything on my plate. From emails to phone calls, from meetings to projects, everything gets touched and the next action for each activity is clearly identified.

Over the past few years I’ve had the opportunity to attend David’s 1-day seminar in Chicago as well as loan copies of his book to friends and co-workers. Some have adopted the GTD principals & others really need to give it another shot…

Now that the decks are cleared and all loose ends are tied up, I can go upstairs and relax with another cup of coffee… I’m cooking 3-meals this afternoon to get ready for the upcoming week.  More about my cooking obsession in a future post.

Ray of sunlight on a copper still

My wife and I took some time in September to drive down to Kentucky and visit a couple of Bourbon distilleries. This picture is my favorite one from that day. It was taken at the Woodford Reserve distillery in Versailles, KY. It’s a picture of one of their three copper stills. It was taken with a Nikon D100 using available light (1/30 sec @ F4.5).

Ray of sunlight on a copper still

Haircuts & T-Shirts

I went to the Sports Themed place near my office for a haircut. The dude did a good job but I was itching like crazy all the way home!

This got me wondering… Why didn’t the whole Flowbee thing take off? I mean it’s such a great idea for people who don’t want to have to run home and take a shower after a haircut… I would gladly pay extra for a barber who can not only cut my hair the way I want it but also make it so I don’t have to deal with a million little pieces of hair on my face/ears/neck!

I always like those logo tees. Here’s a site that has a ton of unique ones (think X-Mas Gift!) I wear a Medium (hint hint).

First Post!

Well after several years the IndyScan domain is alive again. Some of you might remember years ago this site was a huge source of radio scanner info.

I’ve since moved on (lots of other distractions were keeping me from the hobby) to bigger and better things. I still have a lot of the old scanner equipment (gathering dust at the moment) and hope to get it back on-line when my kids get a little older. I think it’s something they might enjoy.

Anyway, welcome to the few of you who will actually read this.